Seven
by RavenOnline
Summary: Seven. Seven warriors, seven different motives, seven different minds and opinions. One unified goal: to bring Destruction to and end
1. Default Chapter

..Heed my warning readers: This story sucks!  
Summary: Sever warriors, seven different opinions, seven free minds, one unified goal: to bring Destruction to an end.

Chapter One: The First Step.

He made it into the Rouge Encampment on his last ounces of strength, muscles aching from the long journey, his mighty steed, slain fifty miles and numerous hours ago, forced him to walk on foot to the campsite.

He leaned against one of the poles that keep the fence together, armor and shield heavy on his tired body; he was very tempted to throw the large shield and metallic armor, but, remembering what he came to do overwrote that thought. Eyes scouring the small camp, he found that, aside from the local people, he was not alone. A campfire was up in the center of the camp, and next to it sat two girls; he could not tell their height, but he found them both attractive; the first, wore a long, blue robe that made it's way down her tanned legs, to her exposed feet, she had neck long black hair and a long wooden staff in her hand. Even though he could not see her face, he sensed an aura of good from her. The other, was about the same height as the first one, she wore a red armor that seemed to be made of fabric, the red armor kept going down her body and ended in a piece of metal, covering the woman's intimate area. Her hair was blonde, and it seemed to merge perfectly with her golden-tanned skin. When his eyes spotted the quiver of arrows on her back, he knew this was an Amazon; a warrior from a female only tribe who was legendary for its archery skills. He wanted to approach the two women, but his manner prevented him from doing that, his long training as a Paladin had taught him that he should hold the utmost respect for women, as they are the ones that allowed him to be born into this world, but he craved for company, and female company would be even better. If he could just…

"Paladin, come, sit with us!" he heard a voice cry. In their conversation, the Amazon came to notice him, leaning against the fence pole and called him to join her and the other. With no second thoughts, he left his former position and straddled towards the campfire. As he came closer and closer to the flames, he felt all the aching in his body being replaced by pleasant warmth.

"Good evening ladies" he said and kissed both women on their hands, the one wearing the blue robe giggled, she was obviously not used to this kind of acting.

"I am Atzen, paladin of the Order of Flame, at your service" he said and sat beside them, next to the one with the robe. She turned towards him

"My people call me Fiorina. I am a sorceress of the nature" she had a kind face, unlike a face who had witnessed battles, her eyes were soft and violet, lips thin and red and a nose that sat just right between the eyes and lips

"And who are you, fair maiden?" he asked and turned towards the Amazon

"You can call me Brianna" she said and lied back, staring at the star spangled sky.

"Atzen" started the young sorceress "Why have you been called here?" Atzen opened his mouth to talk, but instead, Brianna's voice was heard

"Because he was also sent on this damned suicide mission" she said and continued "Every sister of my tribe that was sent here never came back, they say demonic creatures that possess powers like such have never seen before roam these moors and forests" Atzen's face showed complete indifference, but Fiorina on the other hand, was terrified

"Then why have we been sent to this horrible place?" Brianna sighed, her face softened

"Because we're better" she said and ran her hand through the petrified sorceress's black hair "We will be victor" she continued. Atzen sighed

"Come on, we better get inside the tavern, chances are they have food" the two women nodded and followed the Paladin inside.

The place wasn't too big and seemed makeshift, candles lit the inside, providing minimal illumination as shadows flickered across the walls of the small structure. While walking towards the bartender, Atzen couldn't help noticing the place was almost empty, the locals must've ran away when the trouble started happening as only two additional people were inside; a small, scrawny man with long white hair but a surprisingly young face. He was as pale as a dead body and seemed lost in thoughts; his electric blue eyes seemed distant. Atzen was horrified when he saw the man's armor, it was made of _bones_, he was apparently wearing something's ribcage as a body armor that used to cover his black clothing. The other resident of the bar was a woman, but the strangest woman Atzen had ever seen; to differ from all the people present, she wasn't wearing any sort of armor; her upper body was covered by a skin tight, black leather leotard, apparently she didn't manage to make it in a proper size, due to the size of her cleavage. The leotard went up to the middle of her arms, where it stopped and was replaced by two odd-looking black gloves that began from her forearms, but were cut-fingered. The forearm portion of both gloves was suspiciously large and bold, as if there was something hidden inside them, maybe a weapon. Her hair was black and short, very short, male short. Face pale, like the man on the other side of the tavern. Her lips, like her eyes, were colored black, because of the black color, her eyes looked dead and it was rather unpleasant to look at her. She didn't mind them and was preoccupied with her large glass of alcohol. Atzen shifted his eyes back to his friends, Brianna was trying to explain to Fiorina why lacking the ability to see after drinking is good. He was about to make a comment when the doors blasted open, nearly torn off their hinges because of the massive force used to push them. In came a huge man, Atzen stared at the ogre with awe, he was humongous, as tall as a monument for a fallen warrior, also, he was very muscular, each arm as wide as a fence pole. He wore heavy scale armor, along with two metallic boots, on his back rested two large axes, his head was bald and colored in war paint; the face was entirely white, save a thick blue line on the left side of the head.

"I am Tark, and I have come to rescue this puny village from the demons!" he exclaimed and walked across the tavern, towards the pale man, standing almost on top of him, he opened his mouth

"You! Small man, give me your seat!" he exclaimed. The skinny man did not budge and seemed to have blocked the large man's words out of his head

"I demand this seat!" he exclaimed "Didn't you hear who I am?"

"I believe everyone have heard who you are" he said in an almost whisper. The large man exploded with rage

"How dare you!" he said and blew the man off his chair with one powerful thrust of the arm. Atzen was ready to draw his blade and fight the larger man and already reached for his sword's headpiece

"That's very brave of you, Barbarian" said the woman sitting on the other side of the tavern "Picking on a man you're five times his size, I never knew the Barbarians of the north were so brave"

"How dare you mock me, woman!" the Barbarian's head turned red "I will not be insulted by someone who's place belongs in the brothel!"

"Funny you should mention the brothel" she said in a venomous tone "I just walked by it and saw your mother working there"

"I will not take such insults from a woman! Put up your weapons and fight!" he screamed. Even Atzen was a bit shook up by the scream, he let go of his sword, this was going to be interesting

"I don't need my weapons to overcome you" she said and raised her glass, to take another sip of the alcohol. The Barbarian swung one of his axes towards her "_And so it ends_" thought Atzen. He was wrong, as the axe came down, the woman jabbed her feet into the table's ledge and propelled herself backwards, avoiding the deadly swing, the chair came down because of the sudden thrust. She placed both palms against the floor and blasted into the air, landing on a nearby table with a combat stance.

"It appears I do need my weapons to defeat you" she said and clutched her fists hard, from the point of the glove where her palms are supposed to be, burst out six blades, three for each palm. Fiorina, Brianna and Atzen stared wide eyed at the woman

"You…You're an Assassin!" said Brianna, confused; the Assassins were supposed to be a secret clan that trains elite fighters in the dark arts of the shadows, that woman did not seemed to be an experienced killing machine.

"Bah!" the Barbarian turned his head aside and spat "A woman's place is not in battle, and I will show you that!" he raised both his axes and swung at the Assassin; she leapt into the air and landed couched on the floor behind him. Placing both her palms on the ground, she thrust her right leg into a spinning kick that took the large man to the floor, flat on his back. Another twist of her body and she was beside the Barbarian, her right hand Blade Talon inches from his neck.

"Give up yet?" she asked. He grinned and took another swing at her. The axe's wooden part caught her leg and flipped her over on her back. He rolled sideways and brought his axes down on her. She raised her blades and caught both axes; they were right on to of each other. With both her feet, she blasted him off her and into a nearby table. He jumped off the table and landed in front of her, they both tried to stare each other down, adrenaline and heart pace rising with every second.

"Stop!" they heard a voice crying. A second later, they were both restrained by vines that erupted from the floor. The thick green wires secured both warriors in place stuck to the ground, as if they were summoned

"You're on the same side!" a male voice said. He walked inside the tavern, wearing animal leather and fur as clothing, a wolf's head as a helmet. Red, fuzzy hair was revealed beneath the wolf's head, the man himself, had a pretty wolfish narrow face and the two snake-like eyes stared at Tark and the Assassin from beneath the mask with obvious rage.

"Tell those vines of yours to get off me or I swear you'll regret it until the rest of your life!" hissed the Assassin in a menacing voice and struggled against her restrains

"If I do, will you promise not to attack the Barbarian?" asked the man.

"She won't" answered Tark "She's too scared" the Assassin exploded with anger, she struggled against the vines' grip, trying to aim her blades towards them

"I'll show you scared!" she screamed with exploding anger "You don't know the meaning of fear!" after making that statement, her eyes widened with a sudden blast of pain, her head felt terribly heavy, and sank down, resting on her heaving chest.

"I…I'm going to…Kill…" she fell asleep. Tark looked at her and his turned towards the Druid

"What have you done to her!" he demanded. The same look the Assassin had was in his eyes now, and sonly enough, he was sound asleep.

(S)  
"Huh? Where…where am I?" she asked faintly, her entire body felt weak, almost numb. Barely opening her eyes, she saw the blurred image of the girl from the tavern, the one with the robe

"Drink this" she said and brought a clay bowl filled with water to the Assassin's mouth. About to take a sip, her instincts kicked in, she looked at the bowl suspiciously

"How do I know it's not poison?" she asked

"I'll show you" she said and took a sip of the water.

"You could've taken the antidote before coming here" said the Assassin, still not believing. The young woman frowned

"Please" she started, voice kind and true "You are very weak, this'll help you get better"

"Fine" she let out "I'll might as well die" she took the bowl and drank its content. It tasted sweet, very sweet.

"Oh, by the way, I'm Fiorina" said the young sorceress and reached out with her hand

"My friends call me Curare" she said and shook her hand. She head voices outside the tent, she knew only one; the Barbarian's

"Don't worry" said Fiorina "The poisoned vines hit him as well" she looked at the Assassin, she was trying to get up, but her muscles were still under the affect of the poison

"Do you need help?" she asked. Curare shook her head no

"I can get up for myself" she said and tried again, falling to the ground, she swore and tried again, this time she was able to jab one of her claws into the tent's main pole, thus keeping herself standing. She raised her right leg and started kicking the air, trying to get the blood to flow through her muscles normally. She did the same with her left leg. Once sure she could walk properly, she took the claw out of the pole and walked outside the tent, still limping on her left leg. Outside, it was near dawn, the red sun was coming from under the green undergrowth; it was a rather beautiful sight. Curare looked at Tark, who was explaining to Atzen his fighting technique, and demonstrating it as well, moving his axes skillfully through the air. She walked towards them

"How is it that you're not affected by the poison?" she asked. Tark turned towards her

"I am affected; it's just that my body has natural resistance to poison" he explained. Atzen turned to him  
"Show how you do that 'double swing' again" he said.

"You just wind the string…Now focus…RELEASE!" Fiorina unleashed an arrow that went dead straight, completely missing its target

"Not again!" she screamed in frustration, took her staff and pointed it at the makeshift target, which exploded into an inferno within seconds

"Well…I guess that's one way of doing it" said the Amazon, scratching the back of her head. Curare looked sideways, and found the skinny man from the tavern; he was standing next to one of the last food crates, alone

"_Another loner, huh?_" she thought and walked towards him. He didn't seem to notice her, again lost in his troublesome thoughts

"You looked like you could use some company" she said and put the best smile she could give

"I like the silence" he said in an almost whisper, his voice made an affect on her, it sounded cold, distant, she recognized his type from her training

"You're a Necromancer, right?" she asked.

"Yes" he replied in his whispery voice.

"Do you mind telling me what your name is?" she asked

"Owl. And you would be…" she felt he finally opened to her

"Cura…" she bit her lip "Kri" he smiled at her, she felt the electric blue eyes inside her mind; reading her, she liked it.

"Want to join the others?" she asked him

"Sure" he said. They both walked towards the other four warriors

(S)

"Akara, the high priestess, may I proceed into your tent?" asked the Druid

"Yes, you may, Te'eva" said the older woman. She was wearing a robe, like Fiorina, only hers was dark purple. The Druid stepped inside the tent, and sat down

"I sense two things about you, young Druid" she began "The first is fear; you are scared that you will not be able to lead the warriors to the Lord of Destruction, and the second thing I sense, is determination, are you that willing to go through the quest?"

"Yes, yes I am, high priestess" he said and stood up, trying to prove his valor to her

"We truly thank you and your friends" she walked across the small tent and brought him an old yellow scroll "This map leads to the Den of Evil; the demons' home, I think that if we rooted them out from there, destroying the siege on our camp will be much easier"

"Thank you, priestess" he said and took the scroll in his hands "We will not fail you" he left the tent. Akara could hear him calling his friends, telling them to follow him.

"_And so they go, on the first step_" she thought

**Well? What do you think people? Should I keep on writing this? Or just leave it here to die and rot? Review me and let me know!**

**Peace!**


	2. A First Time for Everything

Chapter Two: A First Time for Everything

"Remind me again, why are we doing this?"

Atzen frowned, but the Barbarian had a point; they have been walking for about two hours across the moors, and still nothing came to their sight; neither man nor demon.

By this time, they had already been able to substantiate some sort of moving formation; Te'eva, the Druid took point, because of his amazing sense of smell. Closely behind him were Atzen and Tark, sword and axes ready to be drawn and clash against an opponent. Behind them; Brianna, Fiorina and Owl, the Necromancer. Curare took the rear, her Blade Talons still hidden inside her gloves.

Normally, each of the warriors would have stopped to lye down on the wet green grass and rest for a few short minutes. With the sun slowly breaking from under the tall undergrowth in the east, it was a pastoral sight.

But now, it was annoying; the sunrays bounced off the wet grass, blinding everyone with piercing flashes of light, the sound of birds could destroy one's concentration within seconds and the smell of the moors drove the Druid's nose crazy.

"I think we should stop here!" announced Tark and sat down next to a dead tree, leading the group to a halt. Te'eva frowned and was about to say something when Atzen's voice came to his ears

"Tark has a point. We've been walking for two hours with no results, a little rest would do us good" he said and sat down next to the Barbarian

"I suppose…" said the Druid and rubbed his chin, also sitting down "But what about the Den?"

"Don't worry yourself, Te'eva. I'll keep looking for it, just give me the map" said Brianna. Te'eva looked at her with one eyebrow raised

"Fine, but take someone with you, I don't want anyone walking alone" he said

"I'll go! I'll go!" jumped Fiorina "I'll watch over her!" Brianna smiled

"But who'll watch over you, young sorceress?" said Tark and chuckled.

"I can take care of myself!" she raged, her cheeks red.

"I'll go with them" said Curare "I could use a workout after the whole poisoning thing" she was about to get up when Owl grabbed her arm

"Be careful" he told her. She nodded.

(S)

"My feet hurt!" announced Fiorina and sat down on the wet green grass. Kri and Brianna looked back at her

"That's what you get for walking barefoot" told her Brianna in a motherly voice

"You stay here and take care of her. I'll move ahead" said the Assassin and moved through the undergrowth

"_Ways to describe this place: stupid, ugly, mushy, too hot, too many bugs, smelly OUCH! Painful. Why did I come here anyway? To kill some demons? I should've stayed back at the clan. At least I didn't have to deal with Tark back then_" she thought, mentally talking to herself as she went through the bushes, using her Blade Talons to rip through them with ease. She came across a human figure, it was hidden in some shadows. She approached it

"Hey you!" she said, coming closer to it "Do you know where's the-" the figure was visible to her now, she gaped in shock; whatever it was, it wasn't human. It looked like an adult male, a dead one; the rotting brown and black flesh was dangling in pieces above the bleached bones, parts of it falling as it started walking towards her. It didn't wear anything and it's face was the most horrifying; rotted, eyes sunk in their sockets, mouth dangling freely as the lower jaw muscles were missing, all hair was stripped from the walking corpse, which kept coming closer and closer to Kri. She was petrified, unable to move, she was trained to fight humans, not the undead. The abomination came closer and closer to her, her training kicked in. she twisted into a roundhouse kick, sending her red spiked knee high boot into the creatures right cheek, twisting its head a half spin that was accompanied by a sickening sound of bones snapping. It didn't bother the thing, as it kept walking towards her. With a single motion, she drove her left hand Talon through the zombie's chest, to where the heart is supposed to be. It roared with anger and tried to grab her, she pulled the blades out and with a single swipe from her right hand Blade Talon, cut the thing's head off. She got sprayed with blood, which didn't bother her.

"That's good for a start" she said and was about to move on, when she saw five more of those things approaching her

"The more, the merrier" she said with a grin, and charged towards them with great speed. The fight didn't last too long, Kri jumped in between the group and sliced them in seconds, those things, whatever they were very slow, providing Kri with an advantage; speed played a key part in her attack, those creatures didn't stand a chance

"Anyone else wants some?" she bragged while standing over the bodies of the zombies that were just slain. As if by answer, hands burst out of the ground beneath her; more zombies, they grabbed her ankles and began pulling her down towards the muddy ground. As she came lower and lower, more hands joined dragging her towards the earth. She kicked, and sliced, but in no avail, when only her head was above the ground, and the hands grabbed her head, her bravery was lost, she opened her mouth and filled the air with a fearful scream that sent birds flying in every direction

"HELP!"

(S)

"Did you hear that?" asked Brianna, Fiorina shot up

"Yes, it sounded like-"  
"A cry for help" she said. They both looked at each other

"Curare!" they said and unison and set towards Kri's path. It was easy to follow her steps through the undergrowth as the claw marks on the sliced branches in her path. They reached the place where she encountered the Zombie; Fiorina tumbled over the resurrected warrior's body and screamed in terror when she saw what caused her to trip. Brianna helped her up and tried to calm her down by taking the young woman into her arms and holding her

"Don't worry, it's dead" she said and brought the sorceress' head to her own shoulder. Fiorina was breaking down in hives; she never saw a body before, and she didn't quite think that's going to be the way she's going to see the first one.

"At least we know Curare had been here" said the Amazon, Fiorina's grip of her body although, did not change, still tight, her arms stretched across the female warrior's back. Brianna placed her head on her companion's shoulder and began chanting something; it distracted the sorceress from her crying. She turned her head towards Brianna's

"What are you saying?" she said and snuffled

"When I was scared, my older sister used to sing this to me. She said it grants the person it's being sung to the power to overcome each and every fear"

"And did it help?" asked Fiorina. The Amazon smiled

"Yes little sister, yes it did" she said and felt the sorceress's head sink into her shoulder, it felt warm, and nice.

Few minutes passed before the young woman got up and took her staff into her hand.

"You're right" she said "It did help" she still looked scared, but Brianna admired the sorceress's inner courage

"Than I think we should be looking for Curare, don't you agree" the thought of walking through the moor and the chance of seeing more Zombies petrified Fiorina, but she bit her lip and nodded

"Good" said her companion "Then let us proceed" the two women got up and walked further into the undergrowth, thinking that maybe after her encounter with the Zombie, their Assassin comrade did not use her Blade Talons any more, to cover her tracks. The Amazon gave one more look back, something in the ground didn't seem right, it was…uneven, as if someone turned the ground over. She quickly shook those thoughts away; she had bigger things to take care of, like her terrified companion. As they were walking through the undergrowth, so tight to each other, Brianna couldn't help feeling closer to the young, scared woman, mentally speaking, she dared to consider her as a friend; Brianna didn't have too many friends. She enjoyed that feeling of having someone close that you can guide, just like her elder sister did to her, and as she walked, bow first, arrow ready to be fired, she was only paying attention to her young companion, to keep her from trouble .

("Death's Advocate Approaches")

"The blow should come from above, not diagonally, if it does, the axe will pierce through the armor's weak spot. Now, if you use a sword, then you should swipe like so…" Tark pretended his hand was a sword and hit Atzen's armor where the waist should be

"It's common knowledge that the shielding around the chest is heavier than in other parts of the armor, plus, you'll have to penetrate the ribcage to cause any actual harm" he concluded. Atzen sat in front of him, rubbing his dark chin and looking all around astonished

"Amazing, how do you know all this?" he asked

"They say our clans are 'less sophisticated' than others, but we have mastered ourselves in the control of weapons for ages now. These tactics are passed on from father to son for us to use in case of war, or worse" said the large Barbarian in his deep, rumbling voice

"Your clans aren't stupid" said Owl, who had just finished speaking to Te'eva about various uses for the herbs that could be found around there

"Some people simply interpret your passion for battle as stupidity" he continued

"Well I'll be damned… A Necromancer speaking in the good of a Barbarian, now I've seen everything" said the druid

"My belonging to the Necromancy clan doesn't mean I support all of their opinions, just like you didn't support yours when you set out on this journey instead of letting nature take its course" replied Owl

"Even nature needs help sometimes" said Atzen. Te'eva chuckled

"And what about you Paladin? Why did you not stay at Zakarum?" asked Tark. Atzen lowered his head

"When Diablo was again released into the world, he woke his elder brother, Mephisto from his sleep. The Lord of Hatred used his black powers to corrupt Zakarum, along with the entire great land of Kurast, I am one of the few lonely who had survived" he said. Tark was about to make a comment when the loud sound of a scream reached their ears

"I knew I shouldn't have let them go alone, come on!" commanded Te'eva. The four got up and were about to leave towards the direction of the scream when they heard another voice, behind them

"Youuuuuuu'rze not goingzz anywherezzz" it went along in a raspy tone. They turned around to face a pack of twenty or so small creatures; they were about four feet tall, their skin colored red and they were wielding an array of weapons, traveling from small knives, to large broad swords, to pieces of sharpened wood. The creatures had dog-like faces and yellow snake eyes. Pieces of cloth were used to cover their intimate areas and were secured by black strings to their place. Their leader, who looked just like them, only covered in white war paint, stepped forth

"Youuuuu will givezzz uzzzz your gold, and maybezzzz we will spare your livezzzz" he said and grinned, exposing two rows of yellow sharpened teeth

"We will do no such thing" said Atzen and drew his sword. The four feet blade was the size of the creatures, but they did not seem intimidated

"If you want our gold, come and get it" joined Tark and drew his mighty axes from his back. Both Owl and Te'eva stoop behind the two fighters. Owl's wand was at hand, and was glowing in a menacing blue light. The Druid held his palm towards the creatures, but did not move.

"Bazko!" screamed the leader "Bazko olf Ragadishu!" His likes responded, charging towards the four men with a mix of battle cries

"To arms!" screamed Atzen back and the creatures and charged forward, Tark close behind him.

The two groups met, and blood started flying. One of the creatures jumped towards Atzen, his small two-sided axe ready to slice flesh and bones, but instead met the Paladin's shield; the axe was jabbed into the large yellow and white shield and the creature's head met the other side of the axe, smashing it in two in a display of gore. Regardless, Atzen kept running forward, further into the group and swung his sword just the way the Reaper swings his scythe, with similar results; the of the creatures were cut in half, the sword's steel blade slicing through the soft flesh of their waist. They collapsed on the green grass in bloody puddles, only to be stomped on by Tark's heavy boots. The Barbarian lunged into the air and came down like a hawk towards its prey, axes first. He crashed into a group of the creatures and slices through them with ease.

After that attack, only five of them remained; four warriors and their leader. The four looked at the hacked bodies of their former friends with terror, and then raised their eyes towards Atzen and Tark, they were terrified.

"It seems you were beaten" started Atzen "I would recommend you to flee before we cause any more deaths in your ranks" the creatures, though struck in fear, readied their weapons for another attack

"GO AWAY!" boomed Tark's voice. It sounded like an explosion of some sort that sent every animal within hearing range, including four of the creatures, into a mad dash, to get as far away from the source of that scream. Only the leader was left standing

"Mazzter Ragadishu will havezz your skullzzzzz!" he hissed, turned back, and set after his fellow creatures with a scream

"Ickio olf tigi!" echoed his voice. (A/N: I bet you could guess what that means )

"That was quite invigorating" said Atzen while helplessly trying to peel of the smashed body of the creature from his shield

"We better get going, it's better if we found them before night falls" said Owl, Te'eva nodded in agreement.

"Do any of you have a bag of some sort?" asked Tark. Te'eva handed him a large brown crude fabric sack

"Why would you need that?" he asked. In response, the Barbarian bent down and broke one of the creature's legs off its body with a sickening _Crrrrrack_ sound and put it inside the sack

"We found dinner"

**Whew! Another chapter done! I've been getting a whole lot more reviews than I expected, THANKS GUYS! - Hopefully you liked this chapter as you did the first one. **

**Review and let me know what do I have to change to make it better!**

**\m/ \m/**


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